PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL ENVOY ON TIMOR-LESTE SITUATION

The recent crisis in Timor-Leste did not indicate a failed State, but rather a four-year-old State struggling to stand on its own two feet and learn to practise democratic governance, Ian Martin, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to that country, told correspondents at Headquarters today.

At a press conference following an open Security Council meeting on the subject, Mr. Martin, who was appointed Special Envoy on 25 May, said it was not a time for despair, but for action.  It was time for Timorese leaders to act together and for the international community to remain focused and engaged.  If that happened, the crisis could prove to have been a terrible wake-up call that set Timor-Leste back on its path to a united and prosperous nation.

He said that while briefing the Security Council this morning, he had spoken of how successfully the recent crisis was being addressed, both by the Government and by the international community, and referred to the underlying causes of the crisis, which had been larger than expected.  Timor-Leste had requested the United Nations to carry out an impartial investigation into the violence, and the Secretary-General had asked the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to take the lead in organizing it.

Also addressed during the briefing was the Organization’s future role in the country and Timorese expectations regarding that role, he said.  Members of the Council and other interested parties had expressed a strong continuing commitment to Timor-Leste in the period ahead, and there had been a consensus that the United Nations should play a major part in organizing the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2007.

As the crisis was the result of an “implosion” of the security sector due to divisions between the police and defence forces, review and restoration of that sector was crucial, Mr. Martin stressed.  International policing should, on the request of the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament, become a United Nations responsibility.  There was also a need for enhanced and continued international support for State institutions and for the fostering of reconciliation.

Answering questions, Mr. Martin said that one of the lessons learned was that more attention should have been paid to problems in the security sector.  The 594 troops who had initially been dismissed were primarily from the western part of the country and had complained about discrimination by their commanders, who were mainly from the east.  Following their dismissal, they had remained a political force in the western districts.  While the east-west dimension had not been an “active cleavage” in the past, political and religious leaders did not describe the conflict as an ethnic one.

He said it was true that the most active resistance against the Indonesian army had taken place in the east, while the west had rapidly been overcome by Indonesian forces, but he had seen no Indonesian influence in the current events, nor had the expected oil revenues anything to do with it.  Neither did he think the violence had been inspired to cover up crimes committed during 1999.  While it was also true that the offices of the Prosecutor-General and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had been looted, no evidence had been lost in the latter case, and the looters seemed to have focused mainly on available motorcycles there.  However, in the former case, the damage was still being assessed, but it seemed to be a case of pure looting, rather than an attempt to destroy evidence.  Moreover, copies of evidence were available elsewhere.

Another lesson learned concerned the distribution of large numbers of weapons among civilians and ex-resistance fighters, he said, adding that measures were being taken to recover them.  Also, the relationship between police and defence forces deserved more attention because three special police units had been more heavily armed than regular ones, and police officers under United Nations escort had been killed by soldiers on 25 May.

Although future arrangements were unknown at the moment, there should be no concern about a hiatus in security arrangements, as the countries currently involved would ensure a smooth transition to a United Nations mission, he said in answer to another question.  The United Nations would have an executive policing function, especially in Dili, the capital.  Furthermore, the United States, which had resisted extension of the mission in the past, according to some correspondents, now supported it.  The Security Council wanted an assessment as soon as possible.

Asked about calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, he said he had seen no signs of any intention on his part to step down, and he certainly had the support of the majority FRETELIN party.  The important thing was that the issue would work itself out within the framework of the Constitution.

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For information media • not an official record